Ms. Roy's 5th Grade

The students completed their first day of MSP testing today. Tomorrow is math and on Thursday we finish up with Science.  Thanks so much for sending healthy snacks and making sure your child gets plenty of sleep. June and End of the Year Updates
will be out next week.

Ms. Roy

May 1^st Field Trip to Benaroya Hall for a National Geographic Presentation, Being There

“Take an awe-inspiring journey around the world, featuring unique perspectives on some of Earth’s natural wonders—the Okavango Delta, Iceland’s glaciers, and the rainforests of Southeast Asia. Your guide? One of the most important natural history photographers of our time—and one of National Geographic Live’s most highly acclaimed speakers, Mattias Klum.”

Permission slips went home today and are due back on April 27^th.  For this trip we are
excited that there will be no cost to students due to grants for both the program and the buses. We will only need two chaperones, so I’ll take the first two volunteers (priority will be given to parents that have not already chaperoned this year)

Measurement ofStudent Progress(MSP)

The MSP test schedules are out! Make sure you mark these dates on your calendar:  May 15, 16, and 17. This year the students will be using the online testing program for
reading, math and science.  Over the next several weeks we will spend some time preparing for these tests and also have a chance to go through the online tutorial so that students are familiar with the updated computer program.  For information about state testing, please visit www.WAtesting.com. Also, the state’s Resources page (www.k12.wa.us/Resources) has many handouts that provide expanded information for families about state testing and learning standards. If you have any questions about testing, please email me.

End of 5^th Grade Event-Coming in June!

In addition to the 5^th Grade Moving on Ceremony on June 25^th, we have a PTSA grant to help cover an end of the year event for our 5^th graders. We need several parent volunteers from each class to work together to plan this event. Send me an email if you are interested.

5^th Grade Health Class

Our 5^th grade health class covering hygiene, hormones, body  changes, biological
differences between boys and girls, and HIV/AIDS will be on May 31^st and June 1^st.  Forms with more information and preview dates of our curriculum materials went home today.

Enjoy the sunshine and have a great weekend!

Evening Science Expo-March 15th

Next Thursday evening on March 15th from 5:00-6:30 pm our 5^th grade
students will take part in the 3^rd annual Sandburg/DCS Science Expo.
Students will need to arrive at Sandburg by 5pm, stand next to their project in
the library, and be ready to answer questions as families tour the Expo. A
parent or supervising adult must accompany each student to the Expo and stay
the entire time. We realize many families have busy schedules, so please
come even if you can only stay for part of the Expo.

 Volunteers

We need 4-6 parent volunteers from the 5^th grade to help put tables away after
the Expo. This is a quick 15 minute clean-up so that Mrs. Caddock’s library is
ready for use in the morning. Please email Ms. Roy if you are able to help out.
broy@lwsd.org

Field Trip

New permission slips went out last week for our rescheduled field trip is on March 22^nd. Please have all permission slips and money turned in by March 19^th. Also,
I currently have 4 volunteers and could use one or two more.

MSP Testing Window

The state’s testing window for our upcoming Measure of Student Progress(MSP) opens on April 27^th and closes on June 4^th. Mr. Blomquist will have our
school’s schedule out soon so you can make sure to avoid vacations or doctor’s
appointments during the time.

Thank You

Thank you for all of your support at home to make sure your child had the materials and help necessary to complete their science models. They learned a lot about the
design and application process and are looking forward to sharing these during
our Science Expo on March 15^th!

Field Trip Postponed

Unfortunately, this Friday’s Burke Museum field trip will need to be postponed due to a shortage of drivers in all three 5^th grade classes and the snow days that didn’t allow us enough time to try and recruit more volunteers. We will reschedule the field trip for March and plan to take a bus at that time. Bette will keep all the deposited money and new permission slips will go out at the end of February.

Conference Schedule

Paper copies went home today and I’m attaching a copy to this email. Please confirm
that the day and time work for you and your child. If not, email me an
alternate time that is open on the schedule and I can make a switch.

Riding Freedom

Please bring a copy of our next shared novel in by Monday, January 3oth

Thanks so much,

Ms. Barb Roy

Needed: Shared Novel-Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan

Please buy or borrow a copy of this book for your child by January 30^th. We
will use this book to introduce the genre of historical fiction. After reading Riding
Freedom, students will read one other historical fiction book for social
studies class. (We have copies of that book for all students to borrow)

Conferences

Sign-up forms went home today. Please return the form or email me your 1^st,
2^nd, and 3^rd choices. Please make sure your child attends the conference so they can share successes and update goals. We will also have about 5 minutes to talk after the student portion of the conference is over. If you need more time than this, please send me an email.  broy@lwsd.org

Field Trip to Finn Hill is Tomorrow!

We will leave right after taking attendance tomorrow and will return to Sandburg
around 11 am. The counselor will then come to Sandburg on Thursday the12th with
information about registration for next year. Information and forms will go
home that day.

Next Field Trip-Burke Museum on January 27^th

Information went home today for our next field trip coming up at the end of January. We are sending the information out early because for this field trip we need PARENT
DRIVERS. If you are an approved volunteer with a current LWSD application, you
may sign up to help drive students. We will need about 7-9 drivers depending on
the number of seats in your vehicles.

Burke field trip info.
Please let me know how many student you can transport when you sign-up
to be a chaperone.

Information from the Music Room

Please read the attached flyer from Mrs. Osborne if you are considering purchasing a
recorder for music class this year. The last day to order is Friday, Jan. 20^th.

Soprano Recorder Letter January 2012

Parents,

Thank you for all of your support at home to make sure books
were read, projects completed and presentations planned and practiced for the
December Book Project. It was great to see the students do so well on their first
official presentation of the year. In the spring we will plan a parent presentation
so that you can come in and see the work your child has been doing and watch
them present the information to our class.

Parent Conferences
These are coming up on January 31^st and February 2^nd and 3^rd.
Information about signing up will be out the first week in January.

Next Shared Novel

The second book we are planning to have the entire 5^th
grade read for our historical fiction study this spring was approved by the
school district last week. It’s called Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan. An
email will be sent out about 4 weeks before your child needs a copy of the book.
Right now we are looking at dates in February.

Explorer Reports

Student that didn’t find a book on their Explorer will need
to go to a King County Library over break and check one out to use in Social
Studies class in January. Students can preview the book or start reading,
however they will be reading and learning note taking with Ms. Arnold in class.

 Transition to Middle School Events

January 10^th is the 5/6 orientation at Finn Hill
from 9:30 – 11:00. We will be walking over to Finn Hill for this visit.
Permission slips are due back by January 6^th.

January 12^th, Shauna Beresford, the new counselor
at FHMS, will visit the 5^th grade at Sandburg in the morning from
9:10-10:00 to go over the registration process.

January 19^th is the Finn Hill Middle School Open
House for parents and kids from 6:30 – 9:00 in the Finn Hill gym.

Thank you to everyone who donated supplies or their time to
help make our papermaking party a wonderful success.

Happy holidays,

Ms. Roy

Parents,

We are reaching the end of our first 3-month reading period.
To be on track for the 35 book goal, your child should have read about 6-7
books by now. A book is ~150-200 pages, so longer novels will be counted as 2
or more books. Also take note that we have units in the spring on traditional literature
and poetry when the students will be reading about 10 shorter books/stories in
class that month. We have just finished our first novel study of Dear Mr.
Henshaw and will complete two more novels in class before the end of the
year. Therefore students should be reading about 2-3 books per month on their
own. The expectation is that 5^th graders are consistently reading
every night for 30+ minutes.

Thank you
for your support and have a wonderful holiday,

Ms. Roy

LWSD Communicator
I know we have all been waiting for parent access to open up for the new LWSD
websites. The students have been using the discussion board and homework calendar
here in class and we were all looking forward to posting student work and
pictures to this secure site. Unfortunately, I found out last week that the
company unexpectedly announced to the district that they will be discontinuing
their product. So, this weekend I moved items back over to my old website and
reactivated the homework calendar on that site as of today. I appreciate your
patience with this disruption to our classroom communication system this year
and hopefully with the old website up and running things will go much better.
The main website doesn’t have username/password so access should not be a
problem. I will also look into adding a secured page that I can link off of the
site so we may still be able to post pictures this year.
Halloween
The costume parade will be on Monday, Oct 31st at 2:15 followed by treats in
the classroom. You will be hearing from our room parents this week about
volunteering for the party and donations. Also, some students expressed an
interest in having a small pumpkin contest in our room. We agreed that students
wishing to participate could bring a small already decorated pumpkin (baseball
size or smaller) from home and set it on the corner of their desk for the week.

Student Council
Ms. Arnold and I have restarted student council this year and will be working
as co-advisors. The applications went out last Thursday and are due back this
Friday. I have attached a copy if you would like to support or encourage your
child to participate in running for classroom representative or as one of the
three 5th grade officers. Speeches and elections will be held on Tuesday,
November 8th.

Parent Input Meeting
Earlier this month I attended the parent input meeting with 5th grade parents
and Mr. Blomquist. This meeting and several follow up conversations with
parents have been very helpful. I have found your suggestions and concerns to
be very valuable as we continue to work together to make adjustments to our 5th
grade program. Our goal is to supplement our academic curriculum throughout the
year with opportunities and experiences that will help your children celebrate their
elementary years and make a successful transition to the middle school in the
fall. As soon as details for these events are confirmed I will share the information
with you.

Please continue to email me with any questions or concerns,
Ms. Barb Roy

Welcome new parents and students,

The district has set up NEW web pages for teachers and students this year! These are secure sites that will require a username and login for access. This is good news for our class because the site has so many new interactive features, yet provides a safe environment and easy monitoring by the teacher. Currently, I have customized the site, moved information from this site to the new one, and now I am waiting on usernames/passwords from the district.  Hopefully, by Curriculum Night we will be ready to go. Thank you for your patience. Ms. Roy

Parents,

Just  a reminder that we start our MSP(Measurements of Student Progress) testing tomorrow morning with the reading section. We will begin about 9:30 after students from band/orchestra arrive and unpack.

The rest of the schedule is as follows:

Tuesday, May 17^th Science

Wednesday, May 18^thMath

The students have completed the online demo and tutorials for each section and are feeling really confident with the testing program. If you would like to see the tutorial, you may view it at home by going to the OSPI website: Washington’s Online Testing Web site (http://wa-online.caltesting.org/)

As with the mile run earlier this week, I have challenged each student to give the MSP test their personal best by  engaging their critical  thinking skills, taking their time(rereading test items and questions), and checking work.

Snacks

Just like on regular days of instruction, students tend to do better and feel better if they are well rested and have had a good breakfast. We are not doing any type of community snacks, so just send individual snacks in with your child as usual.

USB Mouse(Optional)

One other thing that your child may be asking for is a USB mouse. This just helps navigate the testing program and its many boxes and buttons. We have some for students to borrow here, but just not enough for the entire class.

Thanks so much for your support and send me any questions or concerns that come up.